by amy steiginga
What does freedom look like to you? Would you say that you are free? Are you bound by anything that holds you to an unhealthy form of expectation? Specifically, do you feel bound in Christ or do you feel unbound; not held by feelings of guilt, judgement, or expectations to please Him?
It’s a hard concept to understand…grace that is. I’m not sure if we will ever completely understand how powerful, deep, and unconditional God’s grace is. It’s something I’ve learned a lot about lately, though. Not having a recollection of when or why I accepted Jesus into my heart, due to being introduced to Him at a young age, I think I’ve been growing into my grace as opposed to jumping into it. I don’t know your story and I don’t know why you asked Jesus to be your King, or how old you were when it happened. I don’t know if you felt a weight being lifted off of your shoulders or if you were a kid at Bible Camp who raised his/her hand when asked if you wanted Jesus to live inside your heart. I don’t know if you felt overwhelmed by His grace and unconditional love before you invited Him to lead you on this journey – but I know I didn’t.
It’s always been facts to me.
“Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” – Romans 8:34b
I would go to church, listen and even learn from the sermons, sing the songs truly from my heart, and do my devotions at night, but if I decided I was too tired to read my Bible one night I would be falling asleep feeling guilty because I should be putting God before my needs. Even if I would turn my light back on again and read a passage from His Word, the problem was not that I didn’t want to spend time with God, but that I was doing these practices out of guilt instead of love. I wanted to learn more about who God wants me to be and more about who He is, but I was feeling bound while I did them. I wasn’t free to explore who Christ is and what He lovingly wants of me.
A relationship with anyone should be based on love and not on expectations. This is especially true with our relationship with our Creator. I was feeling like God expected me to love staying up late reading His word and sacrificing my time, money, relationships, and reputation for the glory of His Kingdom, and if I didn’t do so then I was disappointing my heavenly Father. I’m still in the process of understanding how much He loves me and is in this journey with me, not against me (Rom. 8:28). He’s not judging me based on my wrong-doings or good actions because Christ has levelled that judgement field. Nothing you do, good or bad, can make Him love you more or less. Close your eyes and roll your shoulders a bit. Are you starting to notice more of your freedom?
Romans 8 talks a lot about freedom in Christ and how easy it is to think you are still in the chains that you were in before you met Christ. See, when you sin against Him the chains don’t tighten like they used to because they are no longer there. It’s all in your head! Christ stepped in to take your place. He removed the chains from your body and put them on His own. What love is this?! Romans 8:14-16 says, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, rather the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” What this verse explains is that we go from being slaves to sin to slaves of a kinder and more powerful master. Though we are deserving of death and are in no way worthy of even stepping into the Lord’s household, we have been won by Christ Jesus and the Spirit of the Lord defends us by saying we are worthy, holy, righteous, and pure because of what Jesus Christ did for us (Isa. 1:18; Mat. 6:33; Heb 10:10). This makes us free! Have faith in the One who died so that you can live free!
Have you ever brought a new pet home and opened the cage for them to explore and get to know their new home, but they refuse to leave the carrier? They stay in the cage because of fear of not knowing what you may do to them or not knowing what this new land is like. All the animal knows is that the cage is safe and that the door is open for them to leave anytime if the situation in the cage changes. Like these pets, we live in fear of our freedom, so we get comfortable in our discomfort. We know we are not joyful and passionate for the Lord as much as we could be if we would just let Him love us. We live our lives half committed to God, knowing God is always there as we learn things about Him. Often, though, we do it from a familiar distance which ends up hurting our relationship with God. Just like we tell our pets we will love them more than their previous owner did, God tells us that He will love us and not hold us in chains like we were in our last situation because He trusts us. He has faith in us.
One of my favourite passages in the Bible is Romans 8:38-39. It says, “For I am convinced that neither death no life, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” These verses are some of my favourites because they have taught me that salvation is a gift and this gift was free from our heavenly Father. Due to this being a gift, meaning we did nothing to deserve it, we also can do nothing to cause this love from being taken away. How amazing is that!? That sure sounds like ultimate freedom to me!
Now, don’t take this as an excuse to slack on doing devotions and spending time alone with the Lord. Be sure that when you do spend time with the Lord, however, that you are doing it out of a desire to praise Him and become more like Christ – not out of an obligation or expectation to do so. If you’re struggling with this concept, be honest with God and a friend or accountability partner who can encourage you and keep you in prayer. Sometimes we need to be challenged through discipline to take this relationship just as, or even more seriously, than we should an earthly relationship. Know confidently He wants to walk you through that process and desires for you to become passionate about what you believe. Jesus wants what is best for you and I pray that you will come to further understand how deep that love is and how great your freedom in Christ is. Ask Him to show you today.
To my brothers and sisters in Christ, blessings on your journey with the Lord.
the rambling missionary 